Botanical Stories: Overlooked Areas, Dr. Mary Wharton, and Winged Loosestrife

By Nick Koenig

As summer is coming to a close, I have tried to be in the field botanizing around as much as possible. One of my favorite places to look around for plant life is the Miller-Welch Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area located between Richmond and Berea. The area has been of great interest to me for the past three field seasons. Wildlife management areas are not the first place a botanist would venture to look for unexpected plant life. The purpose is for managing wildlife and the land managers do such a fantastic job at doing such. However, a favorable consequence to managing wildlife is often managing the plant life equally.

(Left) Location of the Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.

(Right) Picture from Central in powerline way, August 2021, Nick Koenig.

As I was trekking through a wet, mesic field following the powerlines, kept open by the managers, I was finding native plants left and right. Anglepod milkvine, butterfly milkweed, moonseed, asters, sedges galore, trumpet vine… the list could go on and on. But what caught my eye was the pink flower below. I had not ever encountered a species like this in Madison County before or ever. After some keying, I was perplexed, a native loosestrife. Whenever I hear loosestrife, I am usually in “plant-yanking” mode, ready to grab any invasive purple loosestrife insight. But this was not the case.

Winged Loosestrife (Lythrum alatum) from Central KY Wildlife Management Area, August 2021, Nick Koenig.

Winged Loosestrife or Lythrum alatum (alate translating to wings in Latin, similarly to how “escalate” means to raise) is a plant species in the Loosestrife family with strong wings on the stem and lacking hairs. The flowers are light pink with one or two from one axil and the leaves ranging from ovate to lanceolate, with the entire plant not going over three feet tall (Illinois Wildflowers). What was most unexpected about the find was its occurrence in Madison County, Kentucky. By using the website SERNEC (Southeast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections https://sernecportal.org/portal/), one can call on collections of a plant species to see when a plant was documented, where, and by who, along with many other details. Some species are kept disclosed for protecting the integrity of the population/species. 

By making a query of all Lythrum alatum in Madison County, Kentucky, the results give rise to only one collection. On July 10, 1937, Mary Wharton (botanist-extraordinaire and in the Kentucky Native Plant Society’s Kentucky Botantist Hall of Fame) found the same species in an “open oak-hickory woods.” 

Dr. Mary Wharton, Kentucky Native Plant Society Kentucky Botany Hall of Fame Profile.

University of Michigan Herbarium specimen label written by Dr. Mary Wharton, SERNEC Portal.


The specimen is stored in a herbarium (plant specimen repository) at the University of Michigan herbarium and pictured below. 

Winged Loosestrife (Lythrum alatum) specimen from the University of Michigan Herbarium collected by Dr. Mary Wharton, SERNEC Portal.

Not only does the specimen hold the story of a wonderful Kentucky native plant, it holds the story of a botanist. Knowing roughly one month ago, 84 years ago, Dr. Wharton (founder of Floracliff Nature Sanctuary and author of multiple field guides) when she was at the age of 24, was too intrigued by a species of flowering plant enough to collect it and document its occurrence. The stories of plant species and plant collectors alike are stored in the specimens housed in herbaria.

Citations

Illinois Wildflowers

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/wng_loosestrife.htm

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife

Click to access MillerWelch-CentralKentuckyWMA_ALL.pdf

SERNEC Portal

https://sernecportal.org/portal/

KNPS Wildflower Week 2021 BotanyBlitz

Nick Koenig

Hello, native plant lovers! The Kentucky Native Plant Society is super excited to host a virtual Wildflower Week (April 10 to April 17) jam-packed with workshops, wildflowers, and iNaturalist. We are hoping to have a large group of botanists and plant enthusiasts from around the state join the KNPS Wildflower Week 2021 BotanyBlitz collection project on iNaturalist.

Here’s the webpage link!

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/knps-wildflower-week-2021-botanyblitz

A BotanyBlitz is an event where anyone who joins the iNaturalist project can use a camera to snap a picture of a plant, in a given area (this case Kentucky), and in a given timeframe (this case April 10-17). At the end of the week, we will have a map and totals by numbers, species, and by each person of all the great collections we found! Additionally, expert botanists and people with a keen identifying eye will be able to add comments to your specimens on why they agree or disagree with a certain identification, so we can learn better ways to ID plants in the future. 

Below are instructions to join the iNaturalist project and how to use iNaturalist. If you have any questions or would like to be more involved, please contact wildflowerweek@knps.org

Happy Botanizing!

App Instructions:

  1. Download the iNaturalist App (both iPhone and Android)
  2. Create/Sign In to your account.
  3. Click “More” (three dots)
  4. Click “Projects”
  5. Search “KNPS Wildflower Week 2021 BotanyBlitz”
  6. Join Project!

Computer Instructions

  1. Click the following link to the KNPS Wildflower Week 2021 BotanyBlitz iNaturalist Collection Project:
    1. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/knps-wildflower-week-2021-botanyblitz
  2. Create/Sign In to your iNaturalist Account:
  1. Join the Project!

How to Use iNaturalist in the Field:

If you would like to learn more about how to use iNaturalist, check out the following video:

iNaturalist Tutorial

By Nick Koenig

Ever run across a flower in the forest and want to know what it is immediately? The app “iNaturalist” is a great tool that can serve as an excellent addition to field guides to help a plant lover come to a correct identification!

Video on How to Use iNaturalist

Associate Editor – Nick Koenig
Nick Koenig is a senior Biology Major with a Botany Concentration at Eastern Kentucky University.  At EKU, he serves as the Co-President of the student environmental group, Green Crew, works as a Biology Tutor, and volunteers in the Greenhouse. He fell in love with plants through gardening and the Kentucky State Fair but has continued with his passion through research at EKU.

Invasive Plant Corner – Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)

By Nick Koenig

Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), often called Stiltgrass or most commonly Microstegium, is a shade tolerant grass in the Poaceae/Grass plant family. This is the second most biodiverse plant family in Kentucky right behind Asteraceae/Sunflower family. Given the massive number of species in the family and the distinctness between members in the family, recognizing Microstegium can be tricky but I hope to help so that native plant lovers can start to remove this species from their landscape!

Description

It is likely if you have hiked along a creek in a disturbed area or walked along a road, you have probably come across Japanese Stiltgrass and thought nothing of it. However, this should be of great concern to landowners/land managers/native plant enthusiast. Once you can competently identify the next patch of Microstegium you come across, you can help eradicate it from the area.

DISTINCT FEATURES

By far, the most distinctive feature for Microstegium that I use in field identification is the faint silver line running down the middle vein of the leaf. This characteristic is not as prominent and distinctive among any other native grasses in Kentucky.

Silver line on leaf of Microstegium (picture taken by Nick Koenig).

APPEARANCE

Japanese Stiltgrass is a “weak-stemmed annual, branching, decumbent [running along the ground then rising up], rooting at the lower nodes [points where leaves or stems come out].” (Weakley 2015).

Picture of a few Microstegium shoots prior to flowering and seeding (picture provided by Jeff Nelson).

LEAVES

As described in the Flora of the Southeast (Weakley), the leaves are ovate-lanceolate (meaning oval and much longer than wide, roughly 2.5-7 times longer than wide ), 2-10 cm long tapering at the base.

HABITAT

Microstegium can most likely be found in “disturbed areas, colonizing moist, rich soil, especially in floodplains” such as along a creek bank where it is often found (Weakley 2015). Due to the Japanese Stiltgrass’s ability of being shade-tolerant, the species can make deep incursions in a forested area.

Example of Microstegium vimineum (Japanese Stiltgrass) growing alongside the beautiful native, Impatiens capensis (Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Orange Jewelweed; picture provided by Jeff Nelson).
Continue reading Invasive Plant Corner – Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) →

Editor’s Note — Readers to Writers

As April showers will soon bring May flowers, this year has proved to be a challenge to maintain a focus on native plants as it seems the world is falling apart right before our eyes. However, I hope every plant enthusiast is trying to get out in the forest and botanize as much as possible. This year has been a great one botanically for me as I have added a few more species on my life list including Pedicularis canadensis/Canadian Wood Betony and Erythronium albidum/White Trout Lily among many others (see pictures at the end)!

The exploration from this year has inspired me to become more involved with the Kentucky Native Plant Society through The Lady Slipper. This has been a great way for me to learn more about native plants and natural history in Kentucky.

Susan Harkins (Managing Editor) and I are always looking to individuals to write to The Lady Slipper and wish for people from beginners just getting into the plant world all the way to life-long botanists to write to the newsletter.

If you simply have a budding idea for an article or already have a full-fledged write-up, we welcome and encourage you to email us: ladyslipper@knps.org

Nick Koenig

White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum) from March 26, 2020, in Madison County, KY.
Canadian Wood Betony (Pedicularis canadensis) from April 20, 2020, in Madison County, KY.

Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater River Basin — A Book Review

Book Review written by Nick Koenig

By Dan Dourson and Judy Dourson

Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River ...
Cover of Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River Basin

With Important Contributions by Halard Lescinsky (Geology), Adam Rollins (Myxomycetes-Slime Molds), Alan Cornette (Cultural History), Tara Littlefield (Plant Life of Red River Watershed), Julian Campbell (Species List)

Illustrations by Elijah Hicks unless otherwise stated

Photographs by Dan Dourson unless otherwise stated

Published by South Limestone Books (an Imprint of the University Press of Kentucky), Lexington, 2019

Dan and Judy Dourson are avid botanists and naturalists, as well as active participants in the Kentucky Native Plant Society’s Annual Wildflower Weekend. In 2019, Dan and Judy co-authored a book that gives a reader an extensive snapshot into the plant life of the Gorge.

Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River Basin is an enjoyable book to throw in one’s hiking pack or place on a coffee table for perusing through after a day full of botanizing. Dourson and Dourson elude early on the purpose of their book — among many purposes — is to highlight this “lesser-majority” of organisms that may not be as eye-catching as eagles, but are often the overlooked yet the speciose majority of living things in the forest. While most of the book highlights the plant life, a prehistoric and cultural history lesson of the Gorge is first given, followed by an in-depth geological and biological background of the area.

The bulk of the book consists of pictures and drawings of the plant life in the gorge with a short description of the species following. The plants are broken down by taxonomic groups starting with the non-flowering organisms transitioning to the Fern and Fern Allies that have accompanying illustrations by Elijah Hicks that complement the pictures greatly.

The next part of the book makes it a great help if one is hiking in the Gorge and finds an unknown flower. Before the flowering plants is a color flower chart with the flowering time of the year, which can help narrow down the search to just a small chunk of pages to flip through. This makes locating the species much easier and more approachable than a traditional dichotomous key. The book ends with a glossary and an extensive species list.

Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River Basin is a wonderful addition to one’s botanical library especially for a naturalist looking for a deep understanding of the life forms in one of Kentucky’s most treasured natural areas.

Nick Koenig